The present invention concerns improvements relating to illuminated jewellery, and more specifically, relates to a method of and an article of jewellery for generating attractive compound optical effects. More particularly, though not exclusively, the optical effects can simulate naturally occurring optical effects such as sparkle and scintillation or can generate artificial optical effects such as ripple and pulsed lighting.
A jewel stone is an optical system that is manufactured from material that is not opaque to light. It may be a natural mineral or a manufactured artificial mineral or optical compound. The design is such that when illuminated and viewed from the front the light falling upon it is largely refracted, internally reflected and returned to the front so that the jewel stone appears bright. The refraction and reflection process may also change the colour of the light emitted after passing through the jewel stone and re-emerging. Jewellery including one or more jewel stones is generally designed so that it does not pass light from the front to the rear. Thus when illuminated from the front and viewed from the rear, the jewel stones appear dull.
The process of design and manufacture of jewellery often involves cutting the mineral into carefully designed angles and facets that are intended to achieve the desired optical effects of causing the front surface to sparkle or scintillate as the refraction and reflection occurs. Such optical effects occur when the jewel stones catch external light at certain incident angles and reflect or diffuse the light.
Scintillation is the word generally associated with jewellery that sparkles. The scintillation effect is most pronounced when correctly designed jewels are illuminated with a point source such as a candle and the jewel is moved through some angular rotation. Very small angular movements can provide substantial scintillation by virtue of the multiple internal reflections refractions and dispersions which are given words such as fire and brilliance.
Although jewel stones are generally designed to have optical effect, when external light is not strong enough, little optical effect including scintillation effect occurs and the colours of the jewel stones are not readily visible. Further, when there is no relative movement between jewellery, the viewer and external light, jewel stones do not produce any optical effect even if enough ambient light is present.
Artificial illumination of a jewel in an article of jewellery has previously been described in our co-pending International patent application WO-A-99/23906. The jewel of a known cut, e.g. a brilliant cut, is artificially illuminated in such a way as to simulate realistic optimum natural illumination. This type of illumination generates simulated natural optical effects in the jewel such as sparkle, scintillation and glow. This is achieved by a jewel of the article of jewellery being illuminated by light emitting diodes (LEDs) and the article including a digital controller for controlling the LEDs to emit light pulses which are variable in duration and intensity. The pattern of light pulses emitted from the LEDs illuminating the jewel can be varied to simulate the natural optical effects.
An object of the present invention is to provide improvements to the concepts described in the above International patent application.
The present inventors have devised a novel jewellery structure which when illuminated can provide enhanced optical effects that are highly attractive. In its broadest aspect, the present invention resides in an article of jewellery comprising an artificially illuminated compound jewel. In particular, improved optical effects are generated as a result of the interaction between the optical effects of each of the component parts of the compound jewel when at least one of those component parts is artificially illuminated.
Preferably at least two of the component parts are illuminated so that despite the external lighting conditions, the optical interaction effects between the at least two component parts can be produced.
According to a more specific aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article of jewellery for generating an attractive composite optical effect, the article of jewellery comprising: a compound jewel having first and second portions with different optical properties; and a light source for artificially illuminating at least the first portion of the compound jewel, the compound jewel and light source being arranged to generate the composite optical effect from the artificially illuminated first portion and from the second portion when the same is naturally or artificially illuminated.
The present invention may also be considered to be an article of jewellery arranged to simulate natural optical effects or create enhanced visual effects, the article comprising a compound jewel and a light source incorporated in the article of jewellery for emitting light so as to illuminate at least a part of the compound jewel.
A compound jewel, as referred to hereinafter, is to be understood to be at least one jewel mounted within another larger jewel. Accordingly, a compound jewel has at least two different components each having its own set of optical properties. These sets of optical properties are different from each other due to the inherent difference in physical size of the components. However, the sets of optical properties can be selected to have different light-transmission characteristics and different reflectance and refraction properties by the use of different materials for each component. The components are selected to give a desired visual output due to the combined optical effects generated when at least one of the jewels (components) is illuminated.
The term xe2x80x98jewelxe2x80x99 is to be construed broadly throughout this description to mean any article or material having optical reflective and/or refractive properties. Examples of such jewels are one or more precious stones such as diamonds or rubies, semi-precious stones, imitations of these stones made from artificial materials or even small reflective metallic objects. These jewels may be combined aesthetically as desired.
Generally, the compound jewel can be mounted to an attractive metal support that has formations provided on it enabling it to be suspended as in the case of a necklace or pinned as in the case of a brooch.
One or more of the jewels are illuminated by light sources incorporated in the article of jewellery. In an embodiment of the present invention, the illumination is by way of light pulses that are variable in intensity and duration in a similar manner to that described in the above-mentioned co-pending International patent application. Using a digital controller, the light pulses can be generated under the control of a software program to produce the desired optical output.
Preferably, the or each light source comprises a set of miniature coloured LEDs. If a red LED, a green LED and a blue LED are used, then advantageously each light source can produce any desired colour output dependant on the way in which the LEDs are driven, namely by controlling the amounts of light produced from each coloured LED. Advantageously, it becomes possible to contrast the illumination of one jewel (component) with that of the other and an improved range of visual effects can easily be generated.
Preferably, a two-component compound jewel is provided with two different independently controllable light sources. Each component of the compound jewel can be illuminated in a different colour to provide desired contrasting optical effects. The illumination colours and intensities can be varied over time advantageously to obtain a continually changing attractive visual effect.
More specifically, the first jewel, can be a so called xe2x80x9cPrecious Jewelxe2x80x9d (PJ) and is the smaller stone of the two. The PJ may comprise any material with suitable optical properties from quartz to diamond and is usually cut in any way that produces attractive light refraction and reflection.
The second jewel can be a larger and generally plainer xe2x80x9cjewelxe2x80x9d which is designated a xe2x80x9cSilver Seaxe2x80x9d (SS). The SS may comprise a material that is of a lower cost than the PJ. For example, the SS may comprise any of a large number of natural or artificial quartz materials sometimes with deliberate inclusions for effect. The SS is prepared by a quartz material stone being shaped and polished to give any one of a number of attractive and suitable finishes.
In this arrangement, the compound jewel is made by cutting a hole in the front face of the SS and mounting the PJ together with its associated illuminating LEDs within this hole. Thus creating a xe2x80x9cPrecious Jewel set in a Silver Seaxe2x80x9d. The hole can be central to the SS or alternatively, it can be off-centre depending upon the particular aesthetic design of the jewellery.
In one practical implementation, the illumination of the SS is arranged to be complimentary to the PJ. For example, the SS may be illuminated in white light and the PJ illuminated in blue light. By digital control of the respective LEDs, the colours and intensities may, over time, be varied to maintain a continuously changing attractive visual effect. Generally, both the SS and the PJ have their own independent illuminating LEDs suitable digitally controlled although it is not fundamental to the present invention and the compound jewel may be illuminated by a single LED source to produce a limited range of colours and contrasts.
It is possible to provide a compound jewel with three or more components. In this case, two or more relatively small jewels can be provided within a relatively larger jewel. Also each jewel can carry its own respective illumination source with all of the different light sources being under the control of a low-power PIC microprocessor for example.
A digital program may be stored in the illumination controller for allowing the apparent transmutation of the PJ and the SS into other jewels having different optical characteristics. The program can control the individual coloured LEDs of the light sources such that outputs from these different coloured LEDs may be combined to create broadly any colour at any intensity. By mixing the outputs of the LEDs, different colours of illumination can advantageously be created and used to give the appearance that the type of PJ or SS in the article has been changed. This provides the user with the ability to change the appearance of his or her jewellery without having to change the article of jewellery itself.
The desired colour range of one of the jewels may be selected from a sequential series by use of touch pads on the article of jewellery. This advantageously enables the article to be miniaturised whilst still retaining adaptability. Once the desired colour range for the jewel has been reached the program can deliver various intensities over time within the selected colour range.
Preferably, the power supply is from a single ultra-low voltage battery, such as 1.2 Volts and the power supply circuit of the article of jewellery is arranged to step up this low voltage to a level (typically 3.0 Volts) which is suitable to drive the light source and an illumination controller, such as the PIC microcontroller. In an embodiment of the present invention, the voltage is stepped up under the control of a microelectronic switching power supply.
As the battery cells typically are have the largest volume of any of the components and weigh the most out of any of the components, this improvement allows the jewellery design to be fabricated in a small volume with a lower weight. This improvement enables the article of jewellery to be realised in a small compact package for example as in a cube with dimensions of 12 mm.
The present invention also extends to a method of generating an attractive composite optical effect in an article of jewellery comprising a compound jewel with first and second portions having different optical properties, the method comprising: artificially illuminating a first portion of the compound jewel; and artificially or naturally illuminating a second portion of the compound jewel, the combined effect of the illumination of both portions providing the composite optical effect.
The step of artificially or naturally illuminating a second portion of the compound jewel may comprise artificially illuminating the second portion independently of the first portion to provide different illumination of the first and second portions.